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Visa Process

You are responsible for obtaining your study visa for Florence. Keep in mind that the Italian Consular Service offices are not affiliated with New York University. They are entities of the Italian national government that issue visas and perform other official functions, and they may create and/or change their requirements for obtaining a student visa at any time and without prior notification. Therefore, the steps below are meant as a general guide but it is your responsibility to follow the most up-to-date and accurate instructions as reflected on the Italian Consular Services official web sites.

What is a student visa?

It is an official stamp issued by the Italian government that gets affixed to a page inside your passport before you depart the United States. You must present it to immigration control when you arrive in Italy.

You must have a study visa because it is not legal to study as a full-time student in Florence without it.

What do you need to do?

Because the visa is actually adhered to your passport, you will need a passport in order to get one. Make sure you have a passport that is valid beyond your scheduled departure date from Italy through December 2016.

If you do not have a passport or need to renew your passport, please contact us immediately for information on expediting the passport and a letter to support your request. US-citizens can also visit travel.state.gov/ for information about securing the passport.

We suggest that you request expedited processing (two week turnaround time) to allow plenty of time to apply for your student visa. The New York Consulate takes up to two weeks to process the visa and other consulates may take up to 2 months to process visa applications!

If you do not have two weeks to spare, students can often request the passport be expedited, even in the same day. US students can then go to the US Passport Agency to request a passport the same day. For a Passport Agency near you and for more information, please refer to their website. In addition to the Passport Agency requirements, please contact the Liberal Studies Global Programs office for a letter to accompany your application.

Student visas are issued by the Italian government via Italian Consulates located in various cities throughout the world. Each Consulate has jurisdiction over the surrounding regions. You can only apply to the consulate to which your address of permanent residence is assigned.

Please note: only a Consulate General can issue a visa, not an Honorary Vice Consulate. If you fall under the jurisdiction of a consulate that covers a wide area (many states) and cannot go in person to an appointment but there is an Honorary Vice Consul closer to your home, you should contact them to see if they are able to pre-approve your materials. What this means is they will look over everything and stamp it or give you some sort of letter which will allow you to mail it to the Consulate General giving you exemption from going in person.

The list of definitions to the right should be used as a guide of materials needed for a complete application. Keep in mind this is just a suggested guideline and you must confirm with the consulate's website for the most update requirements.

You’re required to register with the immigration service upon arrival, an important and mandatory step. The staff in Florence will guide you through the procedure and discuss additional immigration requirements when you arrive.

Italian law requires all non European students to register within eight days of their student visa start date by applying for the permit of stay for temporary residents or Permesso di Soggiorno. It is very important that you do not lose the required documents, so make sure to put them in your carry-on luggage when you travel to Italy! There are additional and mandatory steps to complete once you’re in Florence, but the staff will advise you of these when you arrive.

You will need:

All original materials returned by consulate. Each consulate handles this differently, but the documentation will likely be some mixture of the materials you submitted as part of your application, stamped with consulate seal.

4 Original 2"x2" Passport-Size Photos

One photocopy of your entire passport, cover to cover (that means every page, including blank pages!)

If you are traveling on a passport other than US or EU, you should use this tool to determine if you do in fact need a Student Visa and what materials you will need to submit. Make sure to indicate that you are staying more than 90 days and the reason for your visit is Study: Application to Italian University.

This tool can be found on the consulate’s website at

http://www.esteri.it/visti/home_eng.asp

Forms & Links

New policy: several Italian consulates now require that the bank account be in the student's name as either the primary account holder or a joint account holder. Please be aware of this change in policy.

Visa Documentation Definitions

You'll need to leave your actual passport with the Consulate for processing. If you're going to travel outside of the US (including trips to Mexico, Canada, or the Caribbean) or your home country, make sure to time your application accordingly.

See provided sample visa application (in Forms section of this page). Make sure to use a mailing address that falls under your consulate’s jurisdiction;make sure that you also closely follow the sample application. The number of days noted on the sample must be used since the visa is only for the duration of the program.

This letter is provided by the NYU Office of Global Programs and is written in Italian. It is signed by the Sabrina Melillo, Immigration and Facilities Coordinator clearly stating the program dates, student name and student ID number.

The Consulates will not accept proof of funds from a Trust, IRA, or CD account. You should bring the sample bank letter (provided in the forms section) to your bank.

The format doesn’t matter as much as the content, so make sure they include all the required information stated above.

If signed by the Bank Official, he or she must include his or her name, title and phone number.

If your bank will not produce a letter at the local branch and can only have corporate generate one you will not be able to get the bank official’s signature notarized (since it will be computer generated) but can have the account holder’s signature notarized.

Italian law requires that all non European students register within eight days of their student visa start date by applying for the permit of stay for temporary residents or Permesso di Soggiorno. It is very important that you do not lose the required documents, so make sure to put them in your carry-on luggage when you travel to Italy! There are additional and mandatory steps to complete once you’re in Florence, but the staff will advise you of these when you arrive.

You will need to bring (with you to Florence):

All original materials returned by consulate. Each consulate handles this differently, but the documentation will likely be some mixture of the materials you submitted as part of your application, stamped with consulate seal.

One photocopy of your entire passport, cover to cover (that means every page, including blank pages!)